Blockchain Development For Cross-Industry Use-Cases

By Alka Singh | August 2, 2018 | 736 Views

Blockchain is a fastest growing technology. Every industry has kept an eye on it to address the existing roadblocks with this technology that comes on the way to provide better service to the customers, here we aim to showcase use cases of blockchain technology in various areas. You can read Blockchain Potential Applications and Disruption – the first installment of blockchain use-case series to better understand and get an insight of this powerful technology.

Blockchain awareness is on the rise, but not just in IT. Cross-industries are overlooking the potentials of this new technology and actively looking for its adoption to address the existing bottlenecks in their respective systems. In this second installment of blockchain use-case series, we have covered blockchain applications in cross-industry. Here are several examples of blockchain application in cross-industries:

1. Optimise Humanitarian Aid: Would you donate funds if you weren’t sure how much of it would spend on relief projects? This question pop-ups in every individual’s mind whenever he/she came across to know crises in any part of the world. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there is enormous funding gap witnessed every year that required for relief projects to address the requirements of refugees suffered by conflict, climate change, famine and other crises.

Blockchain technology is changing this by making the delivery of international aid completely transparent.

Humanitarian organizations are embracing blockchain technology to erode issues in raising fund for relief projects. These organizations are looking to Blockchain Development Services which could help them sidestep costly intermediaries, track the flow of funds and resources from a donation. Simultaneously, data when record over blockchain will also allow people – beneficiaries and donors alike – the ability to be aware of where their resources are going.

A real-time transaction would be possible over distributed ledger that helps restore faith in humanitarian aid while eroding fraud and corruption.

2. Revolutionise Supply Chain: Logistics and supply chain management typically span a vast web of incremental steps including packaging, loading, transportation, offloading, warehousing, consignment changes, etc., along with security checks at each mode. The logistic chain has been an intricate process hence involved more challenges to maintain accurate and timely information about each transit segment. Communication gaps compound across logistics chains, which profoundly compromises the ability to foresee illegal dealings or uncertain circumstances, thus increasing costs, propounding delays and inefficiencies, therefore calls visibility at every point of interaction.

Tracking and tracing systems help validate claims and the absence and presence of attributes essential to a consumer. Several sectors and countries are embracing ledger technology as a significant need in regulatory requirement. The industry is looking to adopt smart contracts to reduce the cost and end-to-end processing and delivery time. Furthermore, the sector is foreseeing blockchain network as a robust tool to fight for product counterfeiting and protect the brand values.

3. Track Learning Experiences: Some universities and institutions have begun using blockchain into the system, however, its application is restricted to academic degree management and summative evaluation for learning outcomes. Universities embracing blockchain to opt for a secure, low-maintenance way to manage and share student’s academic data.

As the technology serves an immutable record, education industry finds it appealing to manage and secure official source – such as a registrar’s database. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in 2015 has already developed and applied prototype as part of an open-source blockchain project to issue cryptographically signed digital certificates to lab members.

Blockchain also affords the ability for students to create a robust record of formal and informal learning experiences and augment that in a way that’s more appealing to employers. Until now, educational institutions hold the primary ownership of transcripts and educational records. On blockchain network, other education providers can share information that students can take advantage.

As a distributed ledger technology, blockchain works on cryptography techniques and distributed consensus algorithms. It’s currency properties holds the potential to trigger several innovative applications for education. Though it is undeniable that there are potential drawbacks to applying blockchain technology in education, but the education industry has a complex system. There is some learning behavior, learning outcomes and teaching patterns that need to be evaluated subjectively. For example, classroom presentation is hard to assess by the pre-programmed smart contract without human intervention.

Hence, there is a long way to cover in learning and evaluation system with blockchain, and all will be possible with more innovation in blockchain technology.

4. Empower Automotive Vehicles: If you have brought a new vehicle in the past few years, probably you came across models that can parallel park themselves or brake automatically to avoid a crash. If you thought those features were impressive, you have not seen anything yet. Get ready to take your hands off the wheel completely, as autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars take over the roadways.

Auto Giants Like Mercedes and Toyota have already spent million dollars on the development of blockchain pilot. They believe the technology will soon influence the automotive sector both economically and technically. The entire lifecycle of cars can be optimized – from production to sale, from repair to insurance, from financing to providing spare parts.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is Toyota is focusing on the use of smart contracts to blockchenize cars for automatic payments in preparation of a self-driving future, Mercedes-Benz seems more focused on traditional financial applications.

Though the blockchain has distant transformation effect on the automotive vehicles, we will need to wait for a decade to live within digitally connected vehicle we dream today.

5. A Game Changer for Media & Entertainment: Blockchain holds the potential to revolutionize the media industry in the same ways that the internet did 20 years ago. Blockchain with all its significant features such as decentralized systems, immutability, traceability, and cryptography benefits the television and media industry as a whole in several ways – through advertising, distribution, and content creation and verification. Whether the goal is better security and customer privacy or more flexibility, the end game is the same: eliminating — or at least lessening the impact of — the “middleman.”

Using Ethereum Smart Contracts, blockchain solutions supports immutable data records to the industry for battling piracy. Crowdfunding for new projects (like video/movie making), combating fake news, and a more secure rights (subscription) payments will be possible by using blockchain in media and entertainment.

For instance, Open Music Initiative which has 200+ members including industry giants such as Sony Music, Warner, YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify, with the goal of improving royalty payment transactions. Though the immediate impact of blockchain technology is being felt at the corporate level of media, innovation in technology help the industry overcome bottlenecks.

About the author

Alka Singh

Alka Singh is who loves to pen down her understanding and knowledge in simplified and engaging manner. She is an early adopter, likes to stay up to date with the latest trends in the mobile industry and add value to the organization. She has an overall 6 years of experience. She has a knack of expressing facts in place of vague information that too in a creative way. She has acquired talent for writing on challenging topics. Sole purpose of her writings is to provide information which readers find easy to grasp and utilize.